Honour killing a possibility: Police

The Noida Police on Thursday spoke of honour killing in the case of the murder of 14-year-old Arushi Talwar, raising questions over the motive behind the killing of the school girl along with domestic help Hemraj last week.

Six days after the twin murder and with the media spinning various theories, SSP (Noida) A Satheesh Ganesh addressed the first press conference in which he said, "There is very little evidence relating to motive behind the killings. It could be an honour killing or it may be (due to) extreme passionate attachment to a particular person.

"One thing is certain. One of them was killed (with a plan). The intention was not to kill both but one of them. The other could have been a victim of circumstances. It is very difficult to say who was killed first."

In a flat where only four people were living in an area of 2,000 sq feet, Ganesh said, "there are strong reasons for extreme hatred or frustration. There is a possibility of honour killing."

He parried a question whether Rajesh Talwar, Arushi's father, was a suspect. The parents, both dentists, were "fully" cooperating with the investigations, he said.

The SSP said Anmol, a friend of Arushi, was picked up this morning for questioning because the two had conducted 688 "transactions" (either calls or SMSes) over their mobile phones between April one and May 15.

He said still it was not clear as to who died first though it could be said with certainty that Arushi could have been murdered between 1 am and 2 am of May 16 because her parents have said they all had dinner around 10 pm. On the night of May 15.